Sites of Favorite People

Spanky McFarland with the man who made “Isn’t Life Terrible,” Charley Chase.

Spanky McFarland met Michael Jackson in 1984. Here’s what Michael H. Price, the man who arranged the meeting, claims that Spanky said following the meet-up:

Well, y’know, what Michael Jackson went yammering on and on about, was how I’d ‘inspired’ him, or so he said in that unctuous whine of his, to get up there and be a showman. Said that he’d watch us Our Gang kids on television, day after day, actin’ like the whole world was our stage — and maybe it was, at that — and got the performing bug right then and there. ’Course, I guess it helped him to have a musically inclined family. And that noise they call rock ’n’ roll was about all there was to play, I guess, by the time he’d’ve been comin’ up.

So anyhow, I guess I’d never’ve thought of our Little Rascals or Our Gang — or whatever-the-hell you want to call ’em — pictures as being any kind of an influence on this rock ’n’ roll business.

Nonetheless, according to Mr. Price, Spanky once sued the music group Spanky and Our Gang and wasn’t too sure about The Young Rascals, either.

Isn’t Life Terrible?

"Isn't Life Terrible" is a Charley Chase short from 1925. The title was derived from a 1924 D.W. Griffith film, "Isn't Life Wonderful?" Other Charley Chase film titles that ask questions are "What Price Goofy?" (1925), "Are Brunettes Safe?" (1927), and "Is Everybody Happy?" (1928). Chase abandoned his titles with question marks for titles with exclamation points during the sound era.
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